Obituaries : Joseph N. Appleton; County Supervisor, Farmer

Joseph N. Appleton, a walnut farmer and two-term Ventura County supervisor who championed importing water to Simi Valley, has died in Northern California. He was 86.

An avid golfer in good health until a recent heart attack, Appleton died April 30 in Penn Valley, northeast of Sacramento, where he had lived since the early 1970s with his wife, Charline.

Ironically, the success of Appleton and others in bringing water to Ventura County may have hastened the demise of farming in Simi Valley and helped fuel development.

“By the time the water arrived in the 1960s, it proved too expensive for the farmers,” said Patricia Havens, director of Strathearn Historical Park and Museum in Simi Valley.

But Appleton’s son, Grant, of Medford, Ore., said his father adapted to the times, lobbying for more growth and Simi Valley’s eventual incorporation.

Born Dec. 31, 1909, Appleton grew up in Simi Valley on the 160-acre barley and walnut ranch where his parents had settled in the 1880s. In the late 1960s, Appleton sold the land to developers, Grant said.

In the 1930s, he studied veterinary science at Fresno State College, but quit to support his family.

After a stint building sets at Universal Studios, he worked as a personnel manager for Northrop Aircraft Corp. and Timm Aircraft. He also sold lights for Southern California Edison and later crisscrossed Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma selling Wynn’s Friction Proofing Oil out of the back of his 1939 Dodge, recalled his eldest son, John, of Portland, Ore.

Appleton served two terms as a supervisor in the 1950s and ‘60s.

He worked part time at a supply store in Penn Valley after he retired.

In addition to his wife and sons, he is survived by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

At Appleton’s request, no services were held. Burial was in Simi Valley Cemetery. Donations can be made to the Simi Valley Historical Society.